Man admits strangling seven girls to death in hotels

A suspected serial killer, Gracious David-West, 39, arrested by the police has admitted killing at least seven women in hotels in Lagos, Owerri and Port Harcourt.

The suspect was arrested on Thursday, following CCTV footage which showed him leaving an unnamed hotel in Port Harcourt, after he allegedly killed the lady he slept with the previous night.

Mr David-West confessed to killing the seven women to newsmen on Friday after his arrest by the Rivers Police command.

“So far, I’ve killed five girls in Port Harcourt; one in Owerri, Imo, and another in Lagos. I started the killing in Lagos.

“I took N52,000 from the bank account of the first girl I killed in Lagos. Thereafter, I went to Port Harcourt, then to Owerri and later returned to Port Harcourt.

“After I kill a girl, I collect her phone, and sell the phone at Waterlines and MTN office areas in Port Harcourt.

“I met the last girl, the latest victim at a club in Port Harcourt,” Mr David-West told reporters.

Mr David-West, who hails from Buguma in Asari Toru Local Government Area in Rivers, further gave horrific details on how he murdered his victims in cold-blood, saying he usually picked his victims from clubs and drinking spots.

“I take a girl into the hotel, we eat, make love and sleep. Later, I wake up in the middle of the night and put a kitchen knife on her neck, ordering her not to shout.

“I threaten her that if she shouts that I will kill her. I promise her that if she cooperates that I will not kill her, so, the girl, out of fear will not shout.

“After the girl relaxes, then, I will tear the bed’s pillow case and tie her hands and legs, so that she will not struggle. Thereafter, I strangle her,” he confessed.

Mr David-West said before strangulating his victims that they usually pleaded for their lives by offering him money as well as details of their bank account.

He said after obtaining the victim’s Automated Teller Machine, ATM, card and pin and other belongings that he still went ahead to kill the women.

“So, I collect their ATM pins, and after dawn, I go to ATM to withdraw money from the account. I usually use the money to get other girls.

“I don’t know what is making me to kill people. Immediately the urge comes, I kill, and after killing, I regret and feel sober. But later, I will still go and kill again,” he said.

Rivers Commissioner of Police, Mr Mustapha Dandaura, said that Mr David-West was arrested by cops on routine stop and search along the Ogoni stretch of the East/West Road.

According to him, the suspect was arrested inside a commercial bus that was travelling to Uyo from Port Harcourt.

“The suspect is definitely not alone in these killings. So far, three suspects are in our custody and are being investigated in connection with these killings,” the police chief said.

Five deaths in Port Harcourt sparked outrage in Nigeria, with protests erupting across the city by women activists fearing a rise in killings targeting suspected sex workers.

Police investigating the murders immediately launched a manhunt for the suspect and later arrested him while he attempted to flee Port Harcourt to neighbouring Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom.
NAN